Author: Delia Owens | Genre: Mystery, Coming-of-age | Pages: 384
‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ is a multi-genre first-fiction novel written by author Delia Owens. Mystery, romance, and young adult blended into one, this is the life saga of Kya Clark, a young girl who grows up abandoned by her family, isolated from society, and who learns to survive on her own, learning from nature. Set in the marshes of North Carolina, this book tries to solve the murder mystery of Chase Andrews and Kya Clark is the prime suspect.
Delia Owens, who is a wildlife biologist, brings her deep knowledge of the nature to the book, and this adds an atmospheric quality to the narrative, making it engaging and immersive. The story unfolds in two timelines. In one, we follow Kya’s lonely and challenging childhood as she is abandoned by her family and left to fend for herself in the marshes. In the other, we witness a murder mystery that takes place in the town, implicating Kya as a suspect. These two storylines are interwoven leading to the ultimate goal which is uncovering the truth around the murder.
One of the book’s central themes is the power of persistence of the human spirit and the innate trait of nature to heal and nurture everything around. Kya’s connection to the marsh becomes a source of solace and strength for her, and greatly influences her journey from an abandoned child to a self-sufficient woman. The protagonist is the primary suspect of the crime and it is through her perspective we see the story unfold.
In the first half, her character seems rather formidable and believable. How she faces her harsh life head on is empowering for many, no doubt. That sublime touch is soon lost however, when she is a grown-up woman. Her uniqueness swiftly fades in the author’s failed attempt at categorizing this book as mystery or historical fiction or romance. The reader can’t tell! The other characters in the novel are even less relatable and only scrape the surface of something that could’ve been truly incredible. The romance between Kya and a local boy named Tate is particularly cliched and feels unnecessary to the point of being cringe.
“Autumn leaves don’t fall, they fly. They take their time and wander on this their only chance to soar.”
It is also important to notice how the racial and social dynamics, particularly in the context of the segregated South, have been portrayed in this book. For instance, Kya grows with this heavy southern accent as did her father. However, even despite her never stepping out in the real world, her accent and dialect change quite surprisingly. It was unacceptable for characters to change their dialects so easily. Not to mention, that some readers argue that the book glosses over the racial tensions of the era and the impact they would have had on Kya’s life.
“Kya laid her hand upon the breathing, wet earth, and the marsh became her mother.”
I never knew what Crawdads are. So I researched. Now the book starts on a wrong note with the title being misleading because crawdads that are actually crayfish don’t sing. Speaking of the writing, the book’s overly flowery and worded narration soon takes away the novelty owing to the sheer volume of it. Pages after pages of descriptions – whether it is the marshes, Kya’s mental musings, the courtroom drama – they were all too cerebral, and even taxing. These parts could’ve been easily omitted. The language and phrases used is pleasing in places, but that does little to make you fall in love with the book; like the million others.
“Some parts of us will always be what we were, what we had to be to survive…”
In summary, as a reader I couldn’t well relate with the plot or the characters, and the only saving grace were the mentions around nature and wildlife, but that too was helpless in wiping out the growing sour experience. The book’s poor research, character development, tedious descriptions, dialogue-writing, made this an under-average book totally not worth the hype. Some reviewers will have us believe that this is the next Great American Novel, but don’t fall for that sham.
About the Author
Delia Owens is the co-author of three internationally bestselling nonfiction books about her life as a wildlife scientist in Africa—Cry of the Kalahari, The Eye of the Elephant, and Secrets of the Savanna. She has won the John Burroughs Award for Nature Writing and has been published in Nature, The African Journal of Ecology, and International Wildlife, among many others. She currently lives in Idaho, where she continues her support for the people and wildlife of Zambia. Where the Crawdads Sing is her first novel.
Have you read ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’? Do share your thoughts below.
